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The Old Grey Hare
The Old Grey Hare is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett, written by Michael Sasanoff, music by Carl W. Stalling. Starring an older and young Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (voiced by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan respectively). It was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon to credit Warner Bros. Cartoons as producer after Leon Schlesinger sold the studio to WB. Although Bob McKimson was the only credited animator, Rod Scribner, Manny Gould, and Jack Bradbury aided in the process. The title is a double play on words. One is the typical pun between "hare" and "hair", with the bunny (who was already grey-haired) rendered "old and grey" for this cartoon. The title also refers to the old song, "The Old Gray Mare". Some theater cards for this cartoon gave the alternate spelling, The Old '''Gray' Hare''. Plot synopsis The cartoon starts with Elmer sitting under a tree, crying over never being able to catch Bugs. The "voice of God" (also the voice of Mel Blanc) tells Elmer that he would eventually catch him, and proceeds to transport him "far into the future" past the years 1950, 1960, 1970, etc., until reaching the then-distant year of 2000 Anno Domini. This offers the chance to use some contemporary gags with a futuristic twist, as Elmer finds a year 2000 newspaper. One headline says, Smell-O-Vision Replaces Television: Carl Stalling Sez It Will Never Work!" In sporting news, "Bing Crosby's Horse Hasn't Come In Yet!" (Crosby was known for investing in racehorses that did poorly). By now, both Elmer and Bugs are very old and wrinkled ("What's up, prune-face?") - Bugs even has a large white beard and a cane - and lumbago - but their chase resumes. This time Elmer is armed with a "Buck Rogers" ray gun. After a short chase (at slow speed, due to their ages), Elmer gets the upper hand, shooting Bugs with his ultra-modern weapon. At the moment when it seems Elmer has finally beaten his nemesis, the apparently dying Bugs thinks back to when he and Elmer were much younger. This leads to a flashback sequence with a baby Elmer hunting a baby Bugs (both are still in diapers; Bugs, whose "baby" voice is virtually identical to the normal voice of Blanc's Tweety, is drinking carrot juice from a baby bottle; Elmer is crawling and toting a pop-gun; and they interrupt their chase to take a baby nap-time together.) After the flashback is over, a tearful Bugs starts to dig his own grave, with Elmer getting equally emotional. Just at the point where it seems that Bugs is going to bury himself, he switches places with the weeping and distracted Elmer, and cheerfully buries him alive instead ("So long, Methuselah!") The buried Elmer quips, "Weww well anyway, that pesky wabbit is out of my wife life fowevew forever and evew ever!" However, Bugs suddenly pops in and repeats the popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from The Great Gildersleeve, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that," plants a kiss on Elmer, then hands him a large firecracker with a lit fuse, and quickly departs. While Elmer shivers and doesn't do anything, the screen immediately fades out and Robert Clampett's famous vocalized "Bay-woop!" is heard with the firecracker still hissing. The cartoon ends with the "That's all, Folks!"(which appears every single cartoon) card appears already pre-written and the firecracker explodes off-screen, rumbling and shaking the on-screen title card. Censorship and Title alterations *On Cartoon Network (except for the first "June Bugs" marathon and The Bob Clampett Show), the shaking ending card is replaced with the generic "Dubbed Version" end card (though the explosion can still be heard), thus ruining the ending gag, although there is another dubbed version that exists which preserves the end gag. Recent airings of this cartoon on Cartoon Network since 2011 preserve the original "shaking title card" end gag. *The WB! airing of this cartoon cut the part where baby Elmer points his toy gun at baby Bugs and baby Bugs breaks his bottle of carrot juice over baby Elmer's head. Availability The short is available in its entirety (with the shaking end card) in the documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar Part 2, which is available as a special feature on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4. The print used is an original a.a.p. print (evidenced by the a.a.p. opening soundtrack). It was released fully restored in its entirety (with the shaking end card) independently on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 ''and on the ''Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray and DVD. Trivia *In this short, Bugs Bunny in his normal adult age is not shown, just as a baby bunny and as an old rabbit. *This is the first cartoon where something or something referring to the beginning happens at the end where the usual That's All Folks! ending card is shown. *When an old Elmer is reading the newspaper, Bing Crosby's and Carl Stalling's names can be seen. **Also, instead of saying says it says sez. It could be an error. *While Baby Bugs is babbling to Elmer as a baby, the words of his catchphrase, What's Up Doc, appears and Elmer reads it. **A similar gag would show up in the later Popeye the Sailor cartoon Popeye the Ace Of Space. when Popeye is captured by aliens, they babble the words',... on this typical Earthman speciman, appears and Popeye reads it. *Final cartoon to have WARNER BROS. Present. All cartoons after this will have WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC. Present *Final cartoon to use produced by WARNER BROS. CARTOONS on opening titles. *This is one of the several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts to have "special ending gags" involving the closing titles; others include Porky's Duck Hunt, Stop, Look and Hasten, and Box Office Bunny. Gallery The Old Grey Hare1 restored.jpg|"What's up, Prune Face?" 189045 10150123679353926 223597233925 6375129 1648472 n.jpg|lobby card Babybugsbunnyandelmerfudd.jpg|Baby Bugs Bunny and Baby Elmer Fudd Bugs Bunny The Old Grey Hare Video External Links The Old Grey Hare at SuperCartoons.net The Old Grey Hare at B99.TV Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:1944 Category:Bugs Bunny: Superstar Cartoons Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett Category:Cartoons written by Michael Sasanoff Category:Cartoons animated by Robert McKimson Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster Category:Cartoons animated by Jack Bradbury Category:Cartoons animated by Basil Davidovich Category:Cartoons animated by Manny Gould Category:Cartoons animated by Rod Scribner Category:Cartoons with layouts by Thomas McKimson Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Lou Lilly Category:Cartoons with effects animated by A.C. Gamer Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan